Stitching in the New Year

Life has been a little hectic around our household this year. There has been much to do with the sale of our house, school, scouts but I have managed to fit in some stitching and reading time too. As promised, I will start my entry with my fairy finish which capped off 2009. She is the October birthday fairy stitched on 32 count white evenweave. The backstitching made the biggest difference; don't you think??? I loved how she turned out in the end because the backstitching set off the subtle shading in her outfit and made her really 'pop' off the fabric.

In addition, I've been stitching on my 3 larger projects this month. I haven't really set up a definitive stitching rotation; I just stitch on the project which catches my fancy when I sit down to craft. I'm hoping I can finish up the corner on Kind Fond Love soon. My husband has teased me that I'm the only person he's seen that can build a home from the roof down.... Of course, my stitches look better when I pull the thread through the fabric in a hole which doesn't have other fibers in place. This is still my favorite stitching piece although I have been making an effort to put some attention on the others.

Blue Ribbon Designs is the creator of Tiny Trees and Gifts for Thee which is my 2nd project in progress. When completed, there will be 100 blocks with various designs in each. This had become a UFO which I have pulled out and started working on. I still like the colors of this design and so I am trying to work each block to completion and to continue making progress a block at a time until it is done.

Lizzie Kate's Monthly Stamp-it is my UFO piece that is now part of my stitching challenge for the year. I am trying to dedicate at least one day a week on this piece in order to clear it out of my stitching bag. March is coming along and I decided that it would be completed with 3 months per row. You can't tell but the word March is stitched so all I have to do at the bottom is the fill in stitching. April will be started under the January block hopefully in the next week. My son is very happy to see this piece back in the sewing bag.

As if this wouldn't be enough to keep a sane person busy (I never claimed that my sanity was intact.....) I am participating in a Quaker SAL in my ESC group. I chose Quaker Seasons by My Big Toe designs using 32 count lugana ivory evenweave and Weeks Dye Works threads. I haven't made much of a dent in this project, so I will save my show and tell pics on this for a later blog.

I am participating in another Reading Challenge this year. So far, I have completed 2 books and working on reading my current novel, Rhett Butler's People. The other 2 books were the completion of the Tea Shop series by Laura Childs. The next book in this series is due in March and so I will be waiting for the 10 book to arrive in stores in about 2 months. If you are a fan of Gone with the Wind, my current book is for you!!! Rhett Butler's childhood and pre-GWTW life is laid out in this novel by Donald McCaig as well as his perspective of his relationship with Scarlett O'Hara.